February 2025 RMA and OHIP News
- 6 min read
Every month, RMA compiles and summarizes the most important OHIP billing updates and RMA news for your convenience. February’s news is summarized below.
Education and Prevention Committee Billing Brief
Special Visit Premiums
The MoH released an education and prevention committee (EPC) billing brief to guide and assist physicians in understanding when a patient visit is eligible for a special visit premium. Within the EPC billing brief, you will find the following:
- The components of a special visit premium including first person seen, additional person(s) seen and travel premium.
- The definition of non-elective visits that are eligible for special visit premiums.
- When to apply the special visit premium appropriately and whether limits apply to certain premiums based on type of visit, day of week and time of day.
- Common concerns and billing errors that lead to incorrect submission of claims for special visit and travel premiums.
- Additional rules for specific categories of physicians i.e. ER physicians, anesthesiologists and surgical assistants.
For full details, please refer to the EPC brief found here.
Strabismus Procedures (E185, E184, E183, E182, E949 and E877)
The MoH released an education and Prevention Committee (EPC) billing brief to provide general advice and guidance regarding strabismus procedures (E185, E184, E183, E182, E949 and E877). Within this EPC brief you will find the details of the new payment structure introduced in April 2023 followed by examples on how to bill.
For full details, please refer to the EPC brief found here.
2024 Payment Summary
Payment summaries for the 2024 calendar year (January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024) will be released at the end of February 2025. This document details the payments that were deposited to you from RMA during this time period. These statements will aid you in your tax preparation for unincorporated physicians and those with a corporate year end date of December 31st. In order to obtain your payment summary logon to the RMA portal, click “My RMA Reports” (on the left hand tool bar), click “Annual Payment Summaries.” You will see “RMA 2024 Payment Summary” once the payment summary has been posted. If you have forgotten your logon credentials please reach out to Tania Marini ciccagl@mcmaster.ca
Family Day Holiday
Family Day, Monday February 17, 2025 qualifies as a holiday. Please ensure that you add the appropriate premium to your claim, if called on an emergency, for a non-elective visit, surgery, anesthesia or assisting as this will increase the dollar value of your claim. Non-elective means the assessment of the patient is urgent and unscheduled and cannot wait more than 24 hours.
Premiums do not apply to elective visits to in-patients (e.g. rounds)
Notice of HHS Parking in Arrears
Recently a number of parkers at HHS locations have received an email from the parking office indicating their parking is in arrears. This is due to a billing system update (completed by HHS) which prompted a review of all HHS parkers’ billing information. Upon this review it was found that some parkers were not being billed. For those that were not billed, HHS has requested payment for the 2024/25 parking year (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025), even though a parker may have not been paying prior to this period.
As a reminder, parking fees are an eligible ABE for those that have opted into the service. Should you receive an email from HHS parking indicating your parking is in arrears, you may forward this email to Mitch Salisbury (salisbum@mcmaster.ca) to have this expense paid on your behalf.
Paging Services Fee Increase
Health Information Technology Services at HHS has informed us of an increase in paging services as of January 1, 2025. This adjustment, the first in over fifteen years, is necessary due to increased operating costs, Please see below for changes:
Service | Current Cost | January 1/25 |
Paging file – reach via pager | $20 per month | $30 per month |
Paging file – reach via calling cell phone | $20 per month | $30 per month |
Paging file – reach via SMAP user (Appear Lite app) | $20 per month | $25 per month |
Paging file – reach via web paging (text/email to your cell phone) | $20 per month + web connection $5 per month ($25) | $30 per month + web connection $10 per month ($40) |
Pager – short range rental | $15 per month | $20 per month |
Pager – short range purchase | $225 one-time fee | $275 one-time fee |
SMAP license (10 year transferrable) | $130 | $150 |
As a reminder, paging services are a fixed ABE (allowed business expense) which RMA typically pays on the behalf of physicians enrolled in RMA’s ABE service. Should you wish to make any changes to your paging services or have any questions you may reach out to Mitch Salisbury (salisbum@mcmaster.ca).
Special Reminder Regarding ABE Submissions
As the new year is approaching please remember that all expense submissions must be submitted to RMA within one year of being incurred. For example, an expense that was paid for on December 1, 2023 must be submitted no later than December 1, 2024. Expenses that are submitted outside of the one year time period will be reimbursed on a case-by-case basis and can lead to either a delay in reimbursement or denied reimbursement.
2024 Tax Preparation
Tax preparation services are a part of your Allowed Business Expenses (ABE’s). These services are meant for RMA members only and not for your family or spouse. If you have several tax returns prepared by the same accountant, please ensure your invoice is itemized.
Note: these invoices will be paid only if there are sufficient funds remaining in your 2024/2025 variable ABE account. Please reach out to Mitch Salisbury (Salisbum@mcmaster.ca) to find out the remaining balance in your variable ABE account.
Please send your invoice for payment to Mitch Salisbury at RMA or via email Salisbum@mcmaster.ca
RCPSC 2025 Invoices
Your Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada 2025 Invoice will be delivered via email in early April. Invoices are due by May 2, 2025. Please forward your invoice for payment to Mitch Salisbury at RMA via salisbum@mcmaster.ca. Alternatively, you may submit your receipt to obtain reimbursement. Please note, a 2% increase to dues is being proposed, and will be voted on at the Annual Members Meeting on February 26.
IMPORTANT NOTE: RCPSC will be charging a $150 late fee for accounts that remain overdue as of May 31, 2025. The late fee is not eligible for reimbursement through RMA
OMA 2025 Dues Renewal
The OMA renewal process will begin on January 13, 2025 at which time you will also receive a renewal email. Your 2025 OMA renewal application must be completed online. Payment can be made through RMA as usual. OMA dues are a Fixed ABE and OMA constituency fees are Variable ABE’s.
Members can click on the “Pay dues and constituency fees”. Total amounts due will show at the chosen payment method. Take a screen shot and indicate your OMA number and send all the information via email to Mitch Salisbury, salisbum@mcmaster.ca.
Alternatively, you can pay your dues online by credit card and submit your receipt for reimbursement. If you have any questions, please contact Mitch Salisbury at ext. 26680 or salisbum@mcmaster.ca.
2025 CMPA Fee
You should have received an email from CMPA regarding your 2025 CMPA fees. Under payment method at the bottom left of your invoice you will see your payment options stated as one of three below:
Annual pre-authorize debit
Annual payment will be debited from your bank account on May 1 annually and participating in the MLP malpractice program receiving your CMPA rebate from the MOHLTC every April under option “A”.
Monthly pre-authorize debit
Monthly payments will be debited from your bank account on the 20th of each month. You should be participating in the MLP malpractice program receiving your CMPA rebate quarterly from the MOHLTC every April, July, October and January under option “B”
Annual Online payment
Payment is due online by January 1 each year. You should be participating in the MLP malpractice program receiving your CMPA rebate every April from the MOHLTC under option “A”.
For physicians with an Allowable Business Expense account you can send your CMPA Statement of Account after your payment has been made and either your CMPA Statement of Reimbursement or a copy of your CMPA rebate letter showing the amount you received. Please note, without the CMPA rebate letter RMA will not be able to reimburse your CMPA fees until the CMPA reimbursement schedule is released. As a reminder RMA reimburses your out-of-pocket expense which is CMPA fees less the CMPA rebate.
2025 Malpractice Rebate Program (CMPA Rebate)
Physicians receive reimbursement confirmation letters in the mail prior to their reimbursement being deposited confirming the amount and deposit date. If you need to change your banking information for your 2025 deposit please fill out this form and send along with your new banking information to the MLP reimbursement program. You can email it to them directly and they will send you an email confirmation reply.
For more information...
RMA has over 40 years of experience and expertise in the medical billing field. Our staff is always happy to help update physicians on the latest billing news. If you want more specific information on each INFOBulletin, check out the official website.
